The present invention relates to an intra-uterine device (I.U.D.), particularly to an inflatable such device for use as a contraceptive device.
Intra-uterine devices have come to be known and used generally and their mode of operation generally is well-known, at least to those practicing in the art, but many of the presently known varieties of intra-uterine devices suffer from a number of drawbacks and disadvantages, among the more prominent of which are the devices' increasing the susceptibility of the user to ascending uterine infection and/or bleeding; relatively facile expulsion of the device from the uterus of the user, relative difficulty and discomfort to the user in the insertion and removal of the device, etc.
For example, for type of I.U.D. is constructed as a solid body of flexible material, but this can cause discomfort to the user during insertion and/or removal of the device, for example. Other types of devices require the use of a strand or other filament that has one end connected to the I.U.D. with the other end thereof located in the vagina (when the device is located in the uterus), where it is accessible and can be used to remove the device from the patient's uterus. Such a strand is not desirable due to the high propensity for the patient to contract an infection of the uterus, which uterine infection can spread therefrom through the fallopian tubes to the ovaries. Such an infection is possible by reason of the fact that the strand or filament provides a path or route along which the germs, bacteria, etc., can move into the uterus, where they can cause an infection. Such a path or route is not present in the present invention.
Another I.U.D. in the prior art appears to be inflatable buy this device is of such shape as to contact a relatively small proportion of the uterine wall, and, as a further disadvantage, requires an extension thereof to extend through the cervical canal and into the vagina, thus leading to the significant possibility of uterine infection. Also, this device is more apt to be expelled from the uterus by uterine cotractions.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to produce an intra-uterine device that overcomes, or at least alleviates to a significant extent, the foregoing shortcomings of various prior art devices and provides further benefits.